A blog by author, C. Beth Hoffman

You Are What You Eat

Years ago, “You Are What You Eat”, was frequently remembered in my family from John A Gambling on his radio show, “Rambling with Gambling”. Although I didn’t find a reference for it, my father repeated it from time to time, and later my husband did as well.

Unfortunately, I didn’t hear it for the seriousness of the words. My family used it after a great meal, and joked about what we were today. Ah, so many years wasted on a limited perspective.

Over the decades, my relationship with food was more of a bulimic approach in that I binged on what I loved and countered with diets. Obviously to me now, the diets were not sustainable. I also now realize that when I countered with a diet, it was always to lose weight, never to be healthy.

I compare my perspective to negative space in art. In my life the negative was out of sight, not an integral part of my life.

“Negative space is, quite simply, the space that surrounds an object in a image. Just as important as that object itself, negative space helps to define the boundaries of positive space and brings balance to a composition.” (creative Bloq Staff from http://www.creativebloq.com)

When I ate, I concentrated on the what I was supposed to eat not on what else I was eating. For example, I start each day alkalinizing my body with a lemon tea from fresh squeezed organic lemons. I realize I viewed that as a pill for the other things I ate. The lemon was my positive and miraculously all else was background. Of course that is simplistic. But if someone asked what I did to care for myself I could say, I eat organic whenever I can and I try to keep my body alkaline. Now I am not lacking in intelligence as it may seem, but when it comes to food, I have been very adept at seeing what I focus on and not in balancing the art that is my body.

I began many health projects in the same way. Rather than follow the program to the the letter, I researched it. I found online all the “other” foods they forgot to mention. I was creative! I have always eaten healthy, except when I didn’t. I focused on the positive of my eating plan, not the negative. I focused on the good I ate and ignored when I didn’t eat healthy, because it was rarely an unhealthy meal, it was the snacks, or “treats”. And I was starting my day with lemon water! But those treats- cookies, ice cream, potato chips, bottle of beer, are the negative art to your positive body. They are immensely important to the balance of what you are creating for yourself.

Included in the limited perspective of my relationship with food, was that food was a comfort, a treat, something to be enjoyed. Not that it shouldn’t be, but it becomes easy to alter the terrain of your body with too much of one thing. For me, it was sweets. And if you are reading this, you probably don’t need me to mention the dangers of sugar.

Whatever is eaten impacts the body. What goes in may physically exit, but the impact remains long after. What we eat is either healthy or harmful. Making discerning choices in important. While determining a personal plan, that is important to remember. Each bite matters, because you are what you eat.